Old Spies' Tales

A car drove up. It had three suits; one stayed in the car, the other two walked up. Mr. Green, my no-name breed brown hound eyed them suspiciously. Two Suits kind of moved to avoid him. I shouted out the window, “Stick!” The dog lunged, grabbed a stick, brought it to one of the suits and laid it on his shoe and barked, “Wolf.” He looked up at them, wagging his tail. The agent moved out of the way. The dog again put the stick on his shoe and wolfed. The agent bent down, took the stick and threw it. The dog chased it and before the agents had reached the front door, had retrieved it and placed it at his shoe again. The agent threw it again. Ah, I love it when Mr. Green teaches old agents new tricks. From “Death in Motel Nine” Ed Newbury’s book, The Epoch of Incredulity, is a collection of short stories. In it you meet characters like Johnny Exit, a private eye who is investigation a triple homicide and uncovers a band of domestic terrorists determined to overturn the American government; or Harry Kennedy, ex-cop who chases down a Nazi cell intent to perform acts of sabotage to United States industry in the early years of World War Two; or the amnesia victim who has no idea of who he is and never realizes he is a foreign agent. The reader also finds a person like Trinity who seeks revenge on the man who killed his best friend; Pete Rock, retired agent who finds his life may be ending sooner than expected by a paranoid bureaucrat who is trying to make him an unwilling martyr; or Brad Clark who searches the someone who killed a good friend and now wants his girlfriend and him dead. Some of the characters in The Epoch of Incredulity have their faults; many of them serious. But they rise above them to serve the common good, to do what is right in a world of pain and anger. A car drove up. It had three suits; one stayed in the car, the other two walked up. Mr. Green, my no-name breed brown hound eyed them suspiciously. Two Suits kind of moved to avoid him. I shouted out the window, “Stick!” The dog lunged, grabbed a stick, brought it to one of the suits and laid it on his shoe and barked, “Wolf.” He looked up at them, wagging his tail. The agent moved out of the way. The dog again put the stick on his shoe and wolfed. The agent bent down, took the stick and threw it. The dog chased it and before the agents had reached the front door, had retrieved it and placed it at his shoe again. The agent threw it again. Ah, I love it when Mr. Green teaches old agents new tricks. From “Death in Motel Nine” Ed Newbury’s book, The Epoch of Incredulity, is a collection of short stories. In it you meet characters like Johnny Exit, a private eye who is investigation a triple homicide and uncovers a band of domestic terrorists determined to overturn the American government; or Harry Kennedy, ex-cop who chases down a Nazi cell intent to perform acts of sabotage to United States industry in the early years of World War Two; or the amnesia victim who has no idea of who he is and never realizes he is a foreign agent. The reader also finds a person like Trinity who seeks revenge on the man who killed his best friend; Pete Rock, retired agent who finds his life may be ending sooner than expected by a paranoid bureaucrat who is trying to make him an unwilling martyr; or Brad Clark who searches the someone who killed a good friend and now wants his girlfriend and him dead. Some of the characters in The Epoch of Incredulity have their faults; many of them serious. But they rise above them to serve the common good, to do what is right in a world of pain and anger.